


Challenge or Manipulation

by Raven_Knight



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Gen, Humor, Only because of certain ghost's dry sassiness, Post-ESB, Post-Empire Strikes Back, meant to be humorous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-05 00:59:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15852993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raven_Knight/pseuds/Raven_Knight
Summary: Before going to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, Luke Skywalker visits the abandoned home of Ben Kenobi in the Jundland Wastes.





	Challenge or Manipulation

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars. This piece, archived at Archive of Our Own (Ao3), is purely a non-commercial work of fiction from which I am not profiting in any way. This work may not be reproduced, archived, or redistributed by any means and/or in any format without prior written permission from me. Permission may be obtained by contacting me at r4v3n.kn1ght@gmail.com. ~ RK

The adjustment period lasted far longer than Luke Skywalker anticipated following the loss of his hand his father’s lightsaber. Darth Vader’s lightsaber. His father and Darth Vader were one and the same. Luke shuddered. Ha yanked on his glove and climbed the ladder into his X-Wing. His trusted astromech droid, R2-D2, sat installed and waited for his arrival. Luke had asked for and received permission from the commanders and generals of the Rebel Alliance to complete an independent mission: Recover Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine.

Home but no longer truly home. Not anymore. All emotional attachments that would have inspired the nostalgic feeling of returning to the desert planet no longer existed. Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen had been killed, burned with the home in which they’d raised Luke. That home did not exist anymore. All of his childhood friends were gone from this place. Shortly after their happy reunion on Yavin IV, Biggs Darklighter protected Luke during the attack on the Death Star at the cost of his own life. And then there had been Ben Kenobi, the wise, kind, and reclusive mystic of the Dune Sea who had fought in the Clone Wars many years ago, who had given Luke the ancient weapon that had belonged to his father and had begun to teach him both the ways of the Force and the history of the all but extinct Jedi Knights. Ben had sacrificed himself so that Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, and the droids could escape the Death Star, so that they could live. No, nothing remained on Tatooine that could inspire the feeling of home in Luke, not with everyone from his past dead and gone.

Leia, C-3PO, R2-D2, Han, and Chewbacca were his family now. In them, he’d found a new home and a new family. But Han had been taken from them, and Luke refused to lose another member of his family. Not so soon after they all found each other. Luke journeyed back to the home of his past so that he could protect the home of his future.

Far sooner than he’d expected, Luke touched down on the sandy surface of Tatooine. Lando Calrissian had already arrived with Chewbacca aboard the _Millennium Falcon_. Leia would follow Luke in a day or two with C-3PO and R2-D2. Luke had something to do first, before their arrival.

He left the X-Wing and walked towards the hand-built, abandoned, yet remarkably undisturbed abode standing isolated in the Dune Sea. Ben Kenobi’s home. Luke entered the dwelling, feeling the absence but somehow ghostly influence of its departed owner. He hadn’t known the man long, and his heart ached for that loss, of having not nearly enough time to truly learn who Obi-Wan Kenobi was before he’d died. Who was the former Jedi Knight turned recluse? Who taught him how to survive out here alone for so long? How had he lived so far out here in the desert?

Luke went to the weathered trunk from which Ben had taken Anakin Skywalker’s – _Darth Vader’s_ – lightsaber. Luke grimaced, then mentally pushed that fact aside, still not ready to fully accept or acknowledge that terrible truth and focused on his immediate task. He discovered artifacts, holos, tools meant for fine-detailed work, a small but smooth and well-worn and possibly well-loved rock, and a book, a journal, addressed specifically to him. Surprised and intrigued, Luke flipped through it until he saw a section of the painstakingly written words and hand-drawn diagrams of exactly what he’d hoped to find: How to Build a Lightsaber.

“You lost your lightsaber.”

Luke slammed the journal shut and whirled in the direction of the familiar, patient but tired, voice. He stared at the shimmering blue figure of Ben Kenobi. “Ben?”

Obi-Wan smiled fondly at him. “I am relieved that you still live, Luke.”

Luke glanced at his gloved, mechanical hand. “I almost didn’t.”

“I know.” Silence blanketed them before Ben spoke again. “Yoda awaits you to finish your training. And it is better you return to Dagobah sooner rather than later.”

Luke heard the urgency in Ben’s serious tone. He knew the warning underneath the gentle suggestion, but he pushed his conflict from his head and his heart. “I can’t go until this is done.”

“Precisely. A Jedi apprentice or master must have their lightsaber, which you,” he said with a gesture to Luke’s empty hip, “managed to lose.”

What Luke meant was that Yoda would have to wait until the mission to rescue Han concluded. Apparently, Obi-Wan meant something else. Luke decided to play along. He waited for his mentor to elaborate. He didn’t have to wait long. With a grin that tried to hide the underlying pain, Obi-Wan said, “They’re not exactly easy to come by, nowadays.”

Luke then understood what the something else meant. He grinned back at Obi-Wan and opened the journal again to the lightsaber schematics. “So how do I get another one?”

Obi-Wan shook his head. “I think you mean, ‘How do I _make_ another one?’”

“What?”

Obi-Wan nodded to the journal. “I’ve told you how to build a lightsaber, yes, but there is one vital component I could not acquire during my exile on this planet.” Luke skimmed over the diagrams, but Obi-Wan answered his unasked and unknown question. “A crystal.”

Luke knew immediately that this would set back the rescue plans considerably. “You mean I have to get one from some other planet.”

“Ilum.”

Luke stared. “Ilum?”

“Yes.”

“Is this the _only_ place I can get a crystal?”

“Yes.”

Luke shut the journal resignedly. “Okay.” He made to begin replacing some of the items in the trunk. “Anything I should know about Ilum?”

Obi-Wan shifted his non-existent weight before he reluctantly answered. “Ilum is not the most hospitable of planets.”

Luke blinked. “Not the most hospitable?”

Obi-Wan bit his lower lip, clearly deciding how to phrase it. “If you thought that Hoth was a little rough, then you’d best prepare yourself, Luke.” While Obi-Wan proceeded to explain in detail how to retrieve a lightsaber crystal from the Caves of Ilum, Luke’s expression grew more and more unenthusiastic.

Finally, after Obi-Wan concluded his explanation, Luke pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “There’s no way I can do all that.”

Obi-Wan bristled. “I’ll have you know that _we all_ had to take this journey,” he said, firmly. “ _Every single Jedi_. The retrieval of your crystal was a sacred tradition and trial in a young Jedi’s life and training! We all endured it. And we were set this trial when we were _Younglings_ between the ages of eight and thirteen!” Embarrassed, Luke turned his gaze to the cover of the journal that Obi-Wan had clearly prepared for him over a long time. Obi-Wan glared at Luke for the first time of their acquaintance. “You are past twenty years old, young Luke. If claiming your crystal is too much of a challenge for you, then the galaxy has no hope left to it, and it would seem I had placed my faith in the wrong person.” The sternness and aggression left Obi-Wan and he hung his head with a heavy sigh.

Meanwhile, Luke stared at Obi-Wan, the defeated image of his mentor, and came to a determined decision. With the journal tucked under his arm, Luke strode out of the abandoned home of Obi-Wan Kenobi and made a call. “Leia, I’m sorry but we have to delay. There’s something I have to handle first.”

As Luke’s voice faded in the walk to his X-Wing, Obi-Wan smiled to himself, closed his eyes, vanished from his old Tatooine home…

…and, unknown to Luke, re-appeared in a certain hut on the swampy planet of Dagobah. He waited patiently for Yoda to finish his meditation and open his aged eyes. The small and ancient master gazed at his former student with a knowing and fond gaze. “Manipulated him you did.” Obi-Wan shrugged sheepishly. Yoda’s aged eyes twinkled. “Approve of this, I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed it! Leave a comment/review if you feel so inclined. Thank you! ~ RK


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